A slightly unusual Everyman this time round.
There seemed to be a higher proportion than normal of double and cryptic definitions and no “principally” clue, though we do have the usual rhyming solutions at 11a and 20a, as well as the geographical reference at 19d. There were one or two unusual anagrinds too, but I enjoyed TRAGICOMIC, CANDELABRUM, THE PLANETS and the anagram for INSTRUMENT. Many thanks to Everyman.
Moh’s fictitious hardness scale rating: Calcite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SOBS |
In this way, vacuous business breaks down (4)
|
| Charade of SO + BS (first and last letters of business) | ||
| 3 | TRAGICOMIC |
The northern newspaper twice backing stand-up that’s funny some of the time (10)
|
| T (“the ” in a northern English accent) + RAG (newspaper) + I (the i newspaper, originally an offshoot of The Independent) + COMIC (stand-up) | ||
| 9 | NOON |
Two refusals, one rejected in time (4)
|
| NO + ON (reversal of no) | ||
| 10 | HIT SINGLES |
Attacks fireplaces in most popular songs (3,7)
|
| HITS + INGLES | ||
| 11 | CENTRE STAGE |
Small amount of money to remain mellow where the action is (6,5)
|
| Charade of CENT + REST + AGE | ||
| 15 | OVERAGE |
Not young enough? That’s excessive! (7)
|
| If one is over age one is not young enough, with the definition referring to a surplus (of cash or resources). Those who are happy not to hyphenate “over age” in the first sense can take this as a double definition. | ||
| 16 | POACHER |
Trespasser; thief; one getting into hot water? (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | MERMAID |
Though always tailed, she’s never seen (7)
|
| Cryptic definition, kinda… | ||
| 19 | ATROPHY |
Decline the World Cup, for example (7)
|
| Another double definition, given that the World Cup is an example of a trophy | ||
| 20 | MINIMUM WAGE |
Small and quiet, carry on for scant remuneration (7,4)
|
| MINI + MUM (quiet) + WAGE (carry on, as in wage a campaign) | ||
| 23 | INSTRUMENT |
Viola perhaps prepared nutriments (10)
|
| Anagram (prepared) of NUTRIMENTS | ||
| 24 | TEAR |
On hearing where you’re seated in theatre, a show of sorrow (4)
|
| Homophone (on hearing) of tier | ||
| 25 | DUFFLE COAT |
Endless fateful cold, shivering? You need this (6,4)
|
| Anagram (shivering) of FATEFU (fateful, endless) COLD. The question of whether the proper spelling is duffle or (as I think) duffel was raised recently (by me @31 here) in a 225 discussion about Michael Foot. No one engaged then, so I’m trying again! | ||
| 26 | ISIS |
Goddess exists; you can say that again (4)
|
| IS (exists) twice | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SONIC BOOMS |
Reports of flying objects (5,5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | BROWN BEARS |
PM stands for Polar Mammals? No, their relatives (5,5)
|
| Charade of BROWN (Gordon, PM 2007-10) + BEARS (stands for) | ||
| 4 | REISSUE |
Billionaire is sued – mostly ignored – we’ve seen this before (7)
|
| Hidden (mostly ignored) in billionaiRE IS SUEd | ||
| 5 | GAS LAMP |
Slate in recess in Victorian street feature (3,4)
|
| Insertion of SLAM (slate, criticise) into GAP. When I worked in the press, the use of “slam” in this sense – though useful as it would fit easily into a headline on a narrow measure – was roundly slammed as tabloidese. O tempora, o mores | ||
| 6 | CANDELABRUM |
Supporter of wicked things (11)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | MALE |
Like men in armour, you said? (4)
|
| Homophone (you said) of mail | ||
| 8 | CASA |
Having a bag sent up in Spanish home (4)
|
| Reversal (sent up) of A SAC | ||
| 12 | REAR ADMIRAL |
Raised alarm – raider – one on the boat (4,7)
|
| Anagram (raised) of ALARM RAIDER. Another uncommon anagrind | ||
| 13 | THE PLANETS |
Octet of which we’re a member – performing this suite? (3,7)
|
| Double def – the octet in question being the planets in our solar system | ||
| 14 | GREYBEARDS |
In Derby, ‘agers’ whimsically described as such? (10)
|
| Anagram (whimsically) of DERBY AGERS | ||
| 18 | DYNAMIC |
After bolting candy, I’m energetic (7)
|
| Anagram (after bolting) of CANDY IM. A slightly unusual anagrind | ||
| 19 | ARMENIA |
Selection from Carmen I adapted somewhere in Asia (7)
|
| Hidden in cARMEN I Adapted | ||
| 21 | WIND |
Snake in hurricane? (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | AS IF |
A small fellow, but enthralling – Everyman? Hardly (2,2)
|
| A + S + F (a small fellow) around I (Everyman) |
It hadn’t struck me that it was a slightly different Everyman than usual. But you are right. I finished but had trouble parsing 11 across and 4 down. Thank you for the explanation.
Unusualness isn’t something for which I consciously watch, but if it jumps out at me then that’s another thing. It didn’t, to be fair, with this puzzle.
I enjoyed it, as usual.
Thanks all.
6d – it took a long time and eventually a google search before the penny dropped and I realised that the wick in wicked referred to candle wicks. Until then was going down the route of thinking wicked as in sinful. Clever clue I thought or maybe as youngsters might say – a ‘wicked’ clue!
Thanks MOH. I also found this Everyman a little unusual in style but as far as I know there is only the one Everyman setter.
CANDELABRUM was my LOI and I kicked myself for falling for the old wicked trick.
DUFFLE COAT took me a bit to get, firstly because I was working on an anagram with coal as the second word with the 4th letter unchecked. Then on using tools I saw the alternative spellings duffle and duffe. The way the letters fell it could have been either, until I got REAR ADMIRAL Wasn’t keen on the definition “one on a boat”.
Liked MINIMUM WAGE and SONIC BOOMS.
I thought it was DUFFEL COAT too, and it briefly held me up solving this, but when I double-checked, Google reckoned it was DUFFLE COAT (although my phone’s spell check has just disagreed). We had duffel coats as part of my grammar school uniform, with horn toggles and all.
Not as quick as the previous weeks.
Thank you to miserableoldhack and Everyman.
Agree with paddymelon. You would rarely see a Rear-Admiral on a boat (or a ship) except as a visitor for a special occasion. Much more likely to be found behind a desk
Got soundly beaten by this weeks Everyman with just 10 answered clues in total so a long way off my usual standard. Wasn’t sure if it was me having a bad week since I struggled with the Quiptic as well (albeit not as badly as with this), it was a bit of an outlier of an Everyman or some combination of both. Whatever the reason I just couldn’t get any sort of start going and ended up with answers randomly spread across the grid but nothing that helped with progress in any way.
Thank you for enlightening me. I must be a ‘talc’ sort of gal! Really struggled with this
Add me to the list of people completely misled by ‘wicked’ in 6 down! But that’s what cryptics are all about and I was delighted to get it in the end. Great clue!
An enjoyable puzzle – couldn’t parse GASLAMP so thanks MOH, and had to wait for crossers to settle this instalment of the DUFFEL/DUFFEL debate. LOI was CANDELABRUM which raised a wry smile here! Thanks Everyman and MOH.
Yes, pdm and RA, as G&S wrote in HMS Pinafore “Stick close to your desks, and never go to sea, and you all may be rulers of the Queen’s nayvee ..”
Found this the toughest Everyman since the switch to the Observer, and with no check facility any longer, admitted defeat and gave up with about seven or eight unsolved. Thanks for the blog.
I parsed 16a as a triple definition: Tresspasser (`poached’ on my territory); thief and one getting into hot water. Overthinking it, I guess. Understood the parsing of 6d after reading the comments (Thanks, Bob@3).
Thank you, Everyman and MOH
Hi WordSDrove, yes, I initially had POACHER as a triple definition too, but in the end changed my mind on the basis that a poacher traditionally was someone who both trespasses and steals. But it’s definitely arguable.
I wish it remembered my answers instead of showing me a new blank grid.
jaytee @ 12 Everyman has always been in The Observer.
REAR ADMIRAL took me ages because I had plunked in DUFFEL instead of DUFFLE. I even thought, when I put it in, about the alternate spelling, but then of course I promptly forgot. And yes, I am with MOH on the issue of which one is correct.
Another one here who wrote DUFFEL, which according to Wiki, is the name of the town in Belgium where the thick cloth originated.
No problem with 25ac – we wrote in DUFFLL and changed the appropriate L to an E once we got the crossers.
I immediately thought of the ‘wicked’ varieties with candlestick fitting in nicely, until it didn’t! I liked MINIMUM WAGE, DUFFLE COAT (Chambers and Collins have this as an alternative and the ODE has DUFFLE under ‘duffel’), BROWN BEARS, and GREYBEARDS.
Thanks Everyman and moh
Yes, definitely more of a challenge than the usual Everyman. I too had candlestick and duffel at first.
I was surprised at the lack of a “primarily “ clue and wondered if Everyman had abandoned this device, but no – it has returned this week.
Just realised I had a wrong one. 15A I put overate thinking “not young enough?” Was over eight and “that’s excessive” giving me overate.
I think ‘tragicomic’ was a little lose
6 Down reminded me of a clue for CANDLE SNUFFER submitted to a crossword Google Groups forum many years ago:
A device to delight the wicked? (6, 7)
Thanks @24, that is a wonderful clue!
I also had ‘duffel’ then I gritted my teeth and misspelt it to get the obvious down clue! Harder Everyman than usual though.
Enjoyable, even if I didn’t parse them all. Some very nice clues here, thank you.
Sonic Boom and The Planets got ticks. Only downside (and I’ve not counted) was that it felt a bit anagrammy.
For the first time in ages we admitted defeat – CANDELABRUM was beyond us, as was REAR ADMIRAL not helped byspelling DUFFEL the other way.
No complaints, kicking ourselves for not seeing the other meaning of wicked!
Top picks for us: THE PLANETS; SONIC BOOMS; BROWN BEARS.
Thanks Everyman for testing us today, look forward to next week!
Usually start by looking for “primarily” !
First clue solved was 26a and thought 13d would be THE SEASONS. Once I realized it wasnt I had to think harder. Then decided that 25a was …. coal
EVENTUALLY got to the end. Liked MERMAID, POACHER, TRAGICOMIC and GAS LAMP. There was one outside our door in London in the 40’s.
A bit more difficult this week, I gave up on the NW corner. Still, a good puzzle. Thanks to all
Very challenging for sure
Am surprised not many moans on the northern T and I in tragicomic I would never have got that. Didn’t really get sonic bound either
Did like Atrophy and poacher
Tho
Good challenge
The Northern T is one we need to look out for with this setter
Also ‘close to home’ means E.